An earlier blog focused on my family trip to see Spiderman, Turn Off The Dark. My wife, two kids, and I thoroughly enjoyed the production. Much of the staging was spectacular, and the story – though it faltered somewhat in the second act—easily held our attention. This original version closed for three weeks for some rewriting and reopened with much more favorable reviews.

Reading both Rosemarie’s and Libby’s columns last week made me think about dining experiences of Ben’s childhood, especially the absolute worst one, which took place during the most wretched “vacation” of my life.Ben was two years old when, for a number of reasons, we decided to travel to California to visit two sets of dear friends, one in San Francisco and one in Sacramento. He had been on a plane trip once before, when he was six months old, but he didn’t remember it.

The power of large-scale international comparative research in higher education is increasing. Methodologically sophisticated surveys increasingly cover those territories of higher education about which, from international comparative perspectives, we used to have mostly guesses. Now we have hard data that can be used for research and policy purposes.

The power of large-scale international comparative research in higher education is increasing. Methodologically sophisticated surveys increasingly cover those territories of higher education about which, from international comparative perspectives, we used to have mostly guesses. Now we have hard data that can be used for research and policy purposes.

The power of large-scale international comparative research in higher education is increasing. Methodologically sophisticated surveys increasingly cover those territories of higher education about which, from international comparative perspectives, we used to have mostly guesses. Now we have hard data that can be used for research and policy purposes.

Editors' note: the statement below was issued by participants at the end of the International Conference on Decolonising Our Universities conference at Universiti Sains Malaysia (June 27-29, 2011, Penang, Malaysia).

Should there be a separate orientation for the parents of new students?The idea is gaining some traction locally, and I have to admit seeing some logic to it. It represents an intersection of separate trends, but it also raises some tricky issues.